Child sexuality
[11] By the age of 8 or 9, some children become aware that sexual arousal is a specific type of erotic sensation and will seek these pleasurable experiences through various sights, self-touches, and fantasy.
[13] Mutual masturbation or other sexual experimentation between adolescents of similar ages may also occur, though cultural or religious coercion may inhibit or encourage concealment of such activity if there is negative peer pressure or if authority figures are likely to disapprove.
[11] A 1997 study based on limited variables found no correlation between early childhood (age 6 and under) peer sexual play and later adjustment.
[21] Empirical knowledge about child sexual behavior is not usually gathered by direct interviews of children, partly due to ethical consideration.
[13] Aside from Freud, the modern shift from childhood sexuality being understood as a pathological concept to a normal part of child behavior was also influenced by Albert Moll, Carl Jung, William Stern and Charlotte Bühler.
Although Freud is usually regarded as the central figure in the "discovery of childhood sexuality", his work was influenced by an already existing discussion around this topic that started in the second half of the 19th century.
[29][30] This effectively rendered the data-set nearly worthless, not only because it relied entirely on a single source, but the data was hearsay reported by a highly unreliable observer.
In 2000, Swedish researcher Ing-Beth Larsson noted, "It is quite common for references still to cite Alfred Kinsey", due to the scarcity of subsequent large-scale studies of child sexual behavior.
[8] In the latter part of the 20th century, sexual liberation probably arose in the context of a massive cultural explosion in the United States of America following the upheaval of the Second World War, and the vast quantity of audiovisual media distributed worldwide by the new electronic and information technology.
A series of sex education videos from Norway, intended for 8–12 year olds, includes explicit information and images of reproduction, anatomy, and the changes that are normal with the approach of puberty.
Studies show that early and complete sex education does not increase the likelihood of becoming sexually active, but leads to better health outcomes overall.
For instance, it may provide a safe space for sexual identity exploration and expression for LGBTQ+ youth, fostering connectivity, social support, and positive impacts on well-being.
[39] The causes of this premature sexualization that have been cited include portrayals in the media of sex and related issues, especially in media aimed at children; the marketing of products with sexual connotations to children, including clothing; the lack of parental oversight and discipline; access to adult culture via the internet; and the lack of comprehensive school sex education programs.
Reports indicate that social media platforms have become a pipeline for the rapid spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), leading to an alarming increase in the dissemination of such content.
[56] A 1989 paper reported the results of a questionnaire with responses from 526 undergraduate college students in which 17 percent of the respondents stated that they had preadolescent sexual experiences with a sibling.
